 |
In this issue
Eye Damage in Premature Babies
Nanoparticle Offers Promising Treatment in Glaucoma
Study Coordinator Training Dates
July’s Free Tools For the Study Coordinator Teleclass
How to Increase Recruitment – The Tools & Templates Teleclass
Acronym & Glossary Guide E-Book get your copy
Glossary Exploration
Special Announcements In The News
Upcoming Events
Glossary Exploration
|
|
In The News |
|
Eye Damage In Premature Babies May Be Prevented By Promising Protein
Article Date: 20 Jun 2007
A protein long thought to be one of the body's supporting players has quietly been taking a lead role in healthy eyesight, a discovery that could rapidly lead to treatments for babies born before their eyes are finished growing, University of Florida and Harvard Medical School researchers have found.
The finding, described in separate, back-to-back papers published in the June 19 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers a new target for therapies for retinopathy of prematurity, a potentially blinding disease that annually affects about 15,000 babies.
In newborns with the disease, oxygen-starved areas of the retina compensate by quickly growing new blood vessels. But these new vessels are fragile and leaky.
"We've identified a protein that is part of the body's natural defenses in oxygen-deprived conditions," said Maria B. Grant, M.D., a professor of pharmacology and therapeutics at UF's College of Medicine. "When babies are born before levels of this protein are normal, blood vessels spread abnormally throughout the retina. But if we can increase the protein to more normal levels in premature babies, it should result in healthier blood vessel growth."
The protein - insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3, or IGFBP-3 - was thought to exist exclusively to regulate insulin-like growth factor-1, a molecular growth factor that is necessary for the development of nerve, muscle, bone, liver, kidney, lung, eye and other body tissues. Read the Full Story...
UCF Nanoparticle Offers Promise for Treating Glaucoma
6/18/2007
Source: University of Central Florida
A unique nanoparticle made in a laboratory at the University of Central Florida is proving promising as a drug delivery device for treating glaucoma, an eye disease that can cause blindness and affects millions of people worldwide.
“The nanoparticle can safely get past the blood-brain barrier making it an effective non-toxic tool for drug delivery,” said Sudipta Seal, an engineering professor with appointments in UCF’s Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center and the Nanoscience Technology Center.
The findings will be published in an article appearing in the June 28 issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry C.
Seal and his colleagues from North Dakota State University note in the article that while barely 1-3 percent of existing glaucoma medicines penetrate into the eye, earlier experiments with nanoparticles have shown not only high penetration rates but also little patient discomfort. The miniscule size of the nanoparticles makes them less abrasive than some of the complex polymers now used in most eye drops. Read the Full Story...
|
Upcoming Events for June and July |
|
Study Coordinator Basic Training
Course Description: This is a comprehensive introduction to Clinical Research for Allied Health Personnel. The foundational preparation required for the role of Clinical Research Coordinator will be provided in a practical unison of the “how-to’s and why’s” which is information that will successfully address the specific tasks you perform as a Study Coordinator. The course manual and other materials helpful to the study coordinator will be provided.
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Identify the Roles in the research practice
- Understand why GCP & ICH guidelines are important
- Prepare the regulatory processes
- Conduct binder maintenance & source documentation
- Understand site selection process and set-up
- Identify adverse events and reporting SAE's
- Maintain drug accountability logs
- Prepare for monitoring visits
- Apply the organizational tools provided
- Be able to seek out clinical trials
July 19th at our training center in Novi, MI
Registration deadline: July 12
SIGN UP NOW!
* * * * * * * * * *
Study Coordinator Intermediate Training
Course Description: This seminar is designed for Study Coordinators with more than 12 months of clinical research experience. Study Coordinator Intermediate Training A-Z takes you beyond Study Coordinator Basic Training A-Z with in depth coverage of protocol evaluations, study budgets, developing a profitable research practice, design standard operating procedures for your site, informed consent process, marketing the clinical research practice and subject recruitment.
Upon completion of the seminar, participants will be able to:
- Evaluate protocols for participation feasibility
- Outline key points that make a budget profitable
- Develop standard operating procedures for your site
- Differentiate the elements that make for a successful research practice
- Write an informed consent that is FDA regulation compliant
- Describe different mediums for marketing clinical research projects
- Identify ways of advertising and increasing subject recruitment
July 20th at our training center in Novi, MI
Registration deadline: July 12
SIGN UP NOW!
* * * * * * * * * *
Tools For The Study Coordinator Free Teleclass
Our Topic for July is – Life Evaluation Assessment
Our guest speaker for this teleclass is Linda Zimmer. Linda is a Business & Personal Coach who can help you get things done! Ask yourself these questions:
Do you want to make more money while enjoying a lower stress environment?
Does the prospect of discovering your life’s purpose and passion excite you?
Are you willing to take on new concepts and stretch beyond your comfort zone?
If you answered any of these questions with a "Yes" then this class and Linda Zimmer could be the answer to helping you achieve more of what you want from life.
Since 1999 Linda has been coaching business owners and professionals who want more time to do the things they love. Working together in partnership, Linda helps her clients design a balanced business and personal life by incorporating strategies, methods and practices that make them more effective, more productive, and more successful.
Through her decades of experience in industry and her years as a business coach, Linda has identified the areas where problems most often arise. By directing her client's intention on these critical success factors, Linda helps them gain the most improvement in the shortest amount of time. These are the areas where Linda and her clients most often focus their attention:
- Increased Productivity
- Time Management and Project Management
- Client Development and Management
- Team Building and Management
- Communication Skills
- Relationship Enhancement
- Career Change and Life Transition
Linda describes her process this way: "We’ll prioritize your life and career goals and find the optimum ways to apply your talents toward achieving your objectives. We’ll address life’s challenges with the approach best suited for you. I’ll help you find the path and the direction that encompasses your entire life, and not just one or two problem areas."
If gaining prowess in time management, personal productivity, team building, communications skills, and ways to ensure financial freedom are of interest, then join us as we explore The Life Assessment and the ways to make it all happen for you!
July 25 1:00PM EST
SIGN UP NOW!
* * * * * * * * * *
How to Increase Recruitment – The Tools and Templates
Recruitment is the most important portion of any study. Yet it is consistently the segment that provides the most frustration for everyone. In this teleclass we’ll discuss the most powerful ways to attract potential subjects, how to tie all your techniques into one simple and easy to follow recruitment plan that provides results so that your site will be the number one enrolling site time and time again.
This isn’t just a discussion of marketing theories and ideas – you’ll walk away with a concrete plan that you can put into action immediately.
In this four-week class, you’ll learn:
- Why most sites fail to recruit the desired number of subjects, and what you can do about it
- How to set and achieve realistic recruitment goals
- The top ways to attract potential subjects
- What techniques work for different studies and why
- How to choose the right technique that fits both your budget and office style
- Templates for each recruitment plan
All this and so much more will be covered in this teleclass. Don’t worry if you can’t make the live classes, register anyway and you’ll still receive the recorded classes as well as the Recruitment Tools & Templates Guide.
This four-week recruitment class begins July 24.
|
A Gift For You |
|
The Acronym and Glossary Guide
I am pleased to announce my new E-book, The Acronym and Glossary Guide. I wrote this guide as a resource and reference for those in clinical research, and I want to share this with you, my loyal subscribers.
To get your free E-book: http://www.ortsedu.com/AGGuide.htm
|
Glossary Exploration |
|
Each month we’ll help expand your clinical research understanding by exploring the terms and acronyms that we function with everyday. Seems simple right? But, there are so many things that we don’t know and others that we need to know better.
“People do the best with what they know – when they know better they do better!”
- Maya Angelou
DECLARATION of HELSINSKI: A set of recommendations or basic principles that guide medical doctors in the conduct of biomedical research involving human subjects. It was originally adopted by the 18th World Medical Assembly (Helsinki, Finland, 1964); the recently revised document (52nd WMA General Assembly, Edinburgh, Scotland, October 2000).
FORMULATION: The mixture of chemicals and/or biological substances and excipients used to prepare dosage forms.
HAND WRITTEN SIGNATURE: FDA hand written signature means the scripted name or legal mark of an individual handwritten by that individual and executed or adopted with the present intention to authenticate a writing in permanent form. The act of signing with a writing or marking instrument such as a pen or stylus is preserved. The scripted name or legal mark, while conventionally applied to paper, may also be applied to other devices that capture the name or mark.
LABORATORY CERTIFICATION: A certificate given to a laboratory indicating that the laboratory is capable of performing all test as required by use of a proficiency testing program. The certification is usually renewed on a bi-annual or annual basis after appropriate inspection and testing.
|
Special Announcements |
|
Ophthalmic Research Training Services is continuously looking for ways to improve your expertise and work environment, please visit our newly expanded resource page and see all the ways we’re making getting the information you need even easier! ORTS is your INFORMATION STATION for ophthalmic research! http://www.ortsedu.com/resources.htm
* * * * * * * * * *
If there is a topic you’d like to learn more information on, please let us know about it and we’ll do the research for you and provide you with the best information results possible.
* * * * * * * * * *
Ophthalmic Research Training Services is proud to be listed on the “Hot Links” Macular Degeneration Foundation website: http://www.eyesight.org/Links/links.html
* * * * * * * * * *
Very soon we will have our database completely moved into one central location so that we can provide better service for all our clients. If you’d like to continue to receive information from us please sign up for our newsletter to ensure that you are included in the new database. It’s free and you’ll receive a beneficial list of Tips for a Productive Office as our Thank-You!
| 